This invention relates to heat exchangers and more particularly to a heat exchanger having an inner and outer housing that may be positioned about an existing fluid carrying pipe, without cutting the pipe, to transfer heat from the pipe to a fluid directed into and out of the space between the housings.
There exists in many buildings and industrial installations a number of heated fluid carrying pipes in which the heat is dissapated to the ambient environment of the room in which the pipe is confined. Consequently, there is a large amount of heat energy that is presently wasted which could be utilized for heating or pre-heating purposes if a convenient means were available for capturing this energy.
Conventional heat exchangers must be installed in flow communication with the fluid carrying pipe in order to transfer the heat to a secondary fluid. This requires shutting the flow of the primary fluid to the pipe so that the heat exchanger can be inserted. Thus, the system using the primary fluid must be shut down and thereafter started up, and many circumstances exist in which this inconvenience prevents the installation of a heat exchanger. This is particularly true where the primary fluid is under a high pressure and high temperature state. Thus, it is highly desirable to provide a heat exchanger which can be installed without requiring the flow of the primary fluid to be shut.
It is known in the prior art to provide heat exchangers that can be attached by bolting about a heated fluid carrying pipe, but these known devices are of the radiating fin type which merely provide a heat sink to transfer the heat to the ambient environment. A search of the prior art developed the following United States Patents, but none discloses apparatus directed to the solution of this problem: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,206,836; 2,801,828; 2,625,804; 1,938,441 and 1,811,816.